The Buryats, numbering approximately five hundred thousand, are the largest indigenous group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia.
They are the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.
Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter.
Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude, the capital of the republic, although many live more traditionally in the countryside.
They speak a central Mongolic language called Buryat.
According to UNESCO's 2010 edition of the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, the Buryat language is classified as severely endangered.
